Vote in This Week's Poll: How do you lift weights?
Weight training is a perfect example of this. Whether you want to lose weight, get strong or build muscle, there area a number of ways to accomplish this. You can follow the standard straight-set training, you can alternate exercises or you can do circuit training...some of us do all of these in one week of training, maybe even in the same workout.
How you choose is based on not just your goals but what you like, how much time you have and how experienced you are. My beginning clients usually stick to straight-set training to learn the exercises and keep things simple. My experienced clients often prefer to mix things up and, because they have a strong foundation to work from, they're able to change workouts more often without getting sore.
I'm curious about how you lift weights. Do you follow a certain type of training all the time or do you mix it up? Vote in this week's poll and leave a comment to tell us about how you lift weights.
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Comments
I do Body Pump classes. For one song..5 mins or so. We do squats. Then the next song is backs, then chest, tricepts, then biceps then lunges and finish with shoulders.
The class setting has “peer pressure” so you tend to keep up with eveyone and not dog it. There is maybe 60-90 seconds between songs for weight setup and a quick stretch.
It keeps me honest.
I should lift more weights or lift weights more often. However, when I do lift weights I like to count 5 or 7 or whatever number is in my head for the times so the sides come out even.
I’m one of the evil cardio & strength training mixers. Three days a week, I first do a half hour on the StairMaster. Then, I launch into either my chest, arms & shoulders, or back & abs routines depending on the day. I try to switch different exercises in and out about every six weeks, to keep the wrkouts fresh and my muscle groups guessing. I also do two additional days per week with an hour devoted exclusively to cardio. With my kids’ soccer season in full swing, it’s about all I can scrape together time for.
Anyway, I firmly advocate mixing things up as much as you can to keep it fresh and effective.
Mix it up unless I have a specific objective.
I “go by the book”. Three sets, nine reps. Next time three sets, 10 reps. and so on until I can do 12 reps. Then I increase the weights by two pounds and start over at three sets and nine reps again. Have been working out this way for years. I’m 54 years old.
I do a high rep rate with light weights (8, 10 lbs), with the goal of increasing muscle strength and not bulking up. I do single sets of 60 or 100, depending on the weight and exercise. The current exercises include chest flies, overhead presses, bicep curls, kickbacks, and lateral raises. Most of these, coincidentally, are part of Paige’s “Latest Workout” referenced in the article, “Intermediate Total Body Strength”. I may add some of the other exercises as time goes on.
I do these every other workout. Six days a week, I do a 45 min elliptical workout, targeting a heart rate of 140 – 150+. I do the weights, crunches, and push-ups after the aerobics, because I am dripping with sweat following the elliptical, and I don’t like doing crunches and weights in this wet state.
Correction to my previous posting: the weights, crunches, and push-ups come before, not after the elliptical, while I’m still dry.
you really need to thoroughly investigate crossfit. repeat-thoroughly. crossfit is the absolutely best all over body/cardio workout i’ve come across in 26 years of exercising. it can seem scary and extreme, but anyone can do it with common sense scaling of workouts, and pacing oneself. it is unbelievable the results anyone will experience in the first 6 months. i have been doing it for 18 months, and at 44, i am in the best shape of my life. and the workouts usually are only 20 minutes or so.
I hesitate to write for a plethora of reasons; yet I offer this: I do twelve/ twelves, sometimes increasing the weight on a fourth set,sometime increasing the reps to failure, sometimes going down and increasing the reps to exhaustion. Four to six months ago, I read of a scientifically respectable research study,which comparing the various workout schedules, stated that the one-day on, one-day off regimen, provided the optimal muscle gain. I went on that schedule three-four months ago, and I measured for the first time in a year or so: nothing on the waist and hips, more than half an inch on arms and chest. Not bad for seventy-three. Wish I’d known half a century ago.
an inch on the arms and chest. Not bad for seventy-three.
I actually don’t lift weights anymore. Instead, I’ve noticed that with water workouts, the resistance has proven to be even better than lifting weights– no muscle strain (especially in my back) and minimal impact. My arms have never been so toned.
I’ve been doing some more research about water fitness and was wondering if anyone else has tried something called an “Aquatic Fitness System” (www.aquaticfitnesssystem.com). It has built-in resistance tethers (which is supposed to be better than weight training) and is “twice the workout in half the time” which is something I know I’m always looking for!
If anyone has tried it, I’d love to hear how you liked it!
well i work on a 4 on 1 off program which is
Day 1: Chest Triceps 10 min cardio
Day 2: Back Biceps 10 min cardio
Day 3: Upper Legs Calfes 10 min cardio
Day 4: Shoulders Traps 10 min cardio
on all body parts i start of with
Set 1: 15-20 reps
Set 2: 12-10 reps
Set 3: 8-6 reps
Set 4: 8-6 reps
eat between 6-8 meals 2 protien shakes and 4 doses of creatine per day get atleast 8 hours sleep nd watch the weight pack on im a natually gifted person when it comes to losing or gaining weight but my weight went from 80kg to 115kg in 12 months i had 22% fat but that is still a lot of weight